Foxfolk
Foxfolk resemble humanoid foxes standing about five foot tall. They have the torsos and limbs of humans, abet covered in fur, and the heads and tails of foxes. Foxfolk walk plantigrade, that is with the heels touching the ground as do Humans, not digitigrade, with only the forefoot touching the ground as would true foxes. They are either of the red or gray variety. Foxfolk are no relation to the Foxwoman or fox spirits of the orient.

The first of the Foxfolk was Reginald P. Vanderfellow. He began life as a fox kit given to Helana Vanderfellow as a pet. Helana's wish for a playmate that could talk to her resulted in the young fox being turned into the first of the Foxfolk. While not treated poorly by the family, he was not accorded the equality of a blood member of the house. Upon his maturity he was gifted the resources to adventure, and find his own way.

In the course of these adventures he acquired favors from the powers. He used these favors to acquire himself a mate of his own kind, and later 100 couples of the Foxfolk, to make for himself a race.

Foxfolk have a superior sense of smell and hearing. They can identify individuals by scent alone. Perfume or a recent bath can foil this method of identification. Foxfolk can take smell as a skill, that is learning to identify a single class of substances by smell alone. Their hearing, while keener than humans, is not exceedingly so it will give rouge types a +15% on Hear Noise attempts. A Foxfolk will be more likely to notice faint sounds, and better at defining the direction from which they come.

Foxfolk are omnivorous, with a bit more taste for meat that most humanoids. They farm the land and practice animal husbandry. Due to their religion they are more than a little careful about any harmful impact they might have.

The Foxfolk should be played as exuberant and confident. Even in the worse of circumstances, the Foxfolk will be positive, and thinking of ways to turn darkness into light. When everyone else is despairing of life and future, the Foxfolk will declare "Now we have them where we want them!"

Foxfolk hold the precepts of chivalry as the height of proper behavior, honor, courtly love, daring-do, and the like are the ideal to be striven for. The more flamboyant you are at striving, the better. The Foxfolk is best played "over the top", or a little too flamboyant, and with too little restraint. This is much preferred to underplaying them. Thank you very much.

Foxfolk Life
The family is the center of the Foxfolk life, with religion as a close second. The two are inseparability linked in the life of the Foxfolk people.

Children are born after a gestation of six months. The one to three kits are helpless and blind. While they show the body form that marks them as Foxfolk, they are totally dependent on their mother. After about a year, the "helpless bundles" usually need to be tied down. Childhood, like in all of Foxfolk life, is lived large. Tales of daring do, of heroes and villains, fill the young heads. Play revolves around maiden rescues, and dragon slaying.

Families follow the pattern known as an extended family. Parents will live with adult children. Aunts and uncles will be either in the same house or close by. Rural families will share the same lands and house, those in more urban society will have several dwellings, but retain close ties. This assures that the children will be raised with proper supervision.

Late adolescence is the time for thinking about the future. If adventuring is to be done, it is now it must be done. Both boys and girls are encouraged to see the world then come back home. They must definitely come back home.

Once the world is seen, the matter of marriage comes into the picture. This is not a matter left to chance. True Love is respected, but if it is not forthcoming, then matters are helped along. Foxfolk are not a plentiful race so that every breeding couple is required to bring up the population. Foxfolk maintain monogamous marriages. Infidelity is controlled by the thrice yearly "love feasts", which give religious sanction to one night affairs in masked and perfumed outdoor parties. The secondary reason for these love feasts is to spread the gene pool around a bit. Pregnancies are expected.

Foxfolk work is much the same as anywhere else. All professions are represented from artists to zookeepers. Each Foxfolk will learn a profession and how to fight. Numbers are small and both sexes train with weapons. No matter what future profession they might hold, any adult Foxfolk will fight as at least a 2nd level fighter, competent in sword, halberd or spear, longbow or sling, and dagger. Additionally, those that are able train as magicians and clerics. Foxfolk that engage in an adventuring career are exceptions to this rule, but usually possess even greater skills than the general population. Foxfolk favor light swords and amour that allows them to out move an opponent, as their size seldom allows them to out muscle them. They disdain missile weapons as inglorious, but will use heavy armor and missile weapons in large battles. They are romantic to the last, but not foolishly so in defense of their homes, which is the only reason they would ever fight a battle.

Age falls heavily on the Foxfolk. They live big, fast, and hard. As the years progress the piper must be paid, and the payment comes as aches, pains, and disabilities. By the time death arrives around the age of 80 or so, the Foxfolk is waiting by the door to welcome him.

Foxfolk Politics
All Foxfolk communities are located in the Foxvale a fertile valley located about the center of the continent. (This too was a find during Reginald's adventuring career.) Foxfolk practice a Theocracy, that is rule by the clergy. This is not to say that they are quite and obedient to the last. A Foxfolk has been taught to speak their mind, and do. Woe to the priest that fails to listen to the people. Villages are administered by the ranking priest, and the head of the church is also the head of state. The clergy is open to any Foxfolk that wishes to join. Even those without the capacity to learn priestly spells have a place.

Foxfolk Art
As a people Foxfolk enjoy the flamboyant and fanciful. The more romantic the tale, the more desperate the cause, the better they like it. In spite of furred bodies they wear clothing, again only the flamboyant and artistic will do. Silk brocade, billowy sleeves, dashing cuts. They dress the part of swashbucklers and swordmaidens. Even clothing for more practical matters will have its flair and fashions.

Fashion is by no means the only Foxfolk art. They excel at story telling. Indeed, the main reason most Foxfolk adventure is to develop tales to bring home. Any tale will do, but it is all the better if the hero is Foxfolk. Non-Foxfolk can find the Foxfolk style of storytelling, flamboyant and digressive, a bit trying after a while.

Foxfolk also practice the more material arts, painting and sculpture, to a large degree. Again heroic tales are the subject of choice. They have developed a narrative style of art from the Seahaven "Steel Period" of art (the time of Reggie's youth). Figures in painting or sculpture convey meaning by pose and gesture. Frescoes are often painted in panels, each depicting a plot advance in a story. The look is much like that of Renaissance art in the time of the "Great Masters". Even common everyday items do not escape this desire to decorate.

Foxfolk Religion
In the course of his adventures Reginald P. Vanderfellow founded a race. He also found a god to succor and aid the fledgling people, so he became the first priest of Milliki on Thindacairull soil in over 10,000 years.

During the course of his adventures he saw a vision of the goddess. She warned him of an evil nearby, and begged his aid. Reggie's heart was won, and he swore he would restore her to power and recognition.

During an off world jaunt, Reggie learned that the priesthood of Milliki still existed on another world. He was thrilled, and learned all he could, swearing himself to her, and receiving divine Ordination.

The Foxfolk version of Milliki's worship is pervasive in the society. "Received with Mother's milk" it is said. All Foxfolk worship to some extent, and all Foxfolk priests will be of this religion.

Foxfolk Race
Foxfolk are from 4' 8" to 5' 4" in height, and from slight to medium in build. Their body hair is marked in the manner typical for foxes whether they are red or gray. The underside of the muzzle and neck, chest, belly, and groin are white as well as the inside of the arms and legs. Hands and feet are sometimes black in both types. The longer hair on the crown is usually black or brown, rarely white. Eye color can be brown, gray, blue, or rarely green.

Foxfolk characters may be of any class. The favored classes would be fighter, rogue, and bard.

Foxfolk are not affected by modesty when push comes to shove, but will affect it if caught ill dressed for the occasion. The more trivial the circumstance the more important the proper clothing. The more life or death the matter the less important the dress.

Foxfolk Characters have the following Characteristics
· Medium size.
· Foxfolk base speed is 30 feet.
· Foxfolk have a base AC of 11.
· +2 on search and spot checks with a olfactory element. Foxfolk have a superior sense of smell. They can identify individuals by scent alone. Perfume or a recent bath can foil this method of identification. Foxfolk can take smell as a skill, that is learning to identify a single class of substances by smell alone.
· +3 on listen attempts. A Foxfolk will be more likely to notice faint sounds, and better at defining the direction from which they come.
· Automatic Languages: Common, Greek.
· Bonus Languages: Quenya, Sindarian, Germanic.

Those wishing to play Foxfolk must first meet the minimum stat requirements as well as any requirements for the class they wish to play.
Foxfolk are from 4' 8" to 5' 4" in height, and from slight to medium in build. Their body hair is marked in the manner typical for foxes whether they are red or gray. The underside of the muzzle and neck, chest, belly, and groin are white as well as the inside of the arms and legs. Hands and feet are sometimes black in both types. The longer hair on the crown is usually black or brown, rarely white. Eye color can be brown, gray, blue, or rarely green.

Foxfolk characters may be of any class. The favored classes would be fighter, rogue, and bard.

Foxfolk are not affected by modesty when push comes to shove, but will affect it if caught ill dressed for the occasion. The more trivial the circumstance the more important the proper clothing. The more life or death the matter the less important the dress.

While Foxfolk possess some advantages in the terms of heightened senses, this is well offset by their smaller size. For the propose of experience they are considered to have no advantages.

Height and Weight: Females run 05% heavier than males for height. Average is 5'0", range is 4'8" to 5'4", build runs from slight to medium.

I like this a lot, and I assume this is D&D, or is it for an alternity, d20 modern type game?

I like the write up, very detailed, but I have a couple minor questions on the stat block. I don't like to argue someone else's fluff, but I tend to pick apart a bit on the crunch...bad habbit I know. :)

I haven't seen the stat minimums in use before, and I'm not sure how that would really work. The only 2 stats that could fall below the listed numbers are Int and Wis...and that would only really be a problem if you did the strait 3d6 method of rolling. Am I missing something there?

Saving throw bonuses: I can't think off hand(though it's early) of a race that has built in saving throw bonuses/penalties aside from +LA races. Though that doesn't mean a non LA race can't have them...just sorta uncommon. Also..."Mental"...I know this isn't a Normal D&D save, so I assume this is either a homebrew thing or something you picked up from somewhere else. Either way, I'll leave it alone. :)

The base AC being higher was an odd one. I know that no other race in D&D does it that way. Interesting way to do that, though unconventional.

Also, seems sort of odd that the foxfolk don't have some buff to Wis, Dex or Cha, which are the 2 most common stat buffs for kitsune type races. Granted, that's your choice, just something I'm not used to seeing on other "foxfolk"

tesral

07-07-2008, 12:17 PM

I like this a lot, and I assume this is D&D, or is it for an alternity, d20 modern type game?

I like the write up, very detailed, but I have a couple minor questions on the stat block. I don't like to argue someone else's fluff, but I tend to pick apart a bit on the crunch...bad habbit I know. :)

I haven't seen the stat minimums in use before, and I'm not sure how that would really work. The only 2 stats that could fall below the listed numbers are Int and Wis...and that would only really be a problem if you did the strait 3d6 method of rolling. Am I missing something there?

Saving throw bonuses: I can't think off hand(though it's early) of a race that has built in saving throw bonuses/penalties aside from +LA races. Though that doesn't mean a non LA race can't have them...just sorta uncommon. Also..."Mental"...I know this isn't a Normal D&D save, so I assume this is either a homebrew thing or something you picked up from somewhere else. Either way, I'll leave it alone. :)

The base AC being higher was an odd one. I know that no other race in D&D does it that way. Interesting way to do that, though unconventional.

Also, seems sort of odd that the foxfolk don't have some buff to Wis, Dex or Cha, which are the 2 most common stat buffs for kitsune type races. Granted, that's your choice, just something I'm not used to seeing on other "foxfolk"

The Game is MD&D 2.8. It's a mash up of every edition from 0 to 3.5.

Stat minimums are old school. We use 4d6 drop.

Saving throw bonuses are common in the SPR. I don't use ECL. I use XP riders. I'm using older XP tables and my balancing method is to add to the XP needed for a level. It works about the same but evens things out a bit as you don't start in a leveling hole you can never get out of.

"Mental" is for the Psionc Defense. It is part of my psionic system that uses PD as a mental armor class seperate from your will score. Wisdom does affect it. Any psionic attack is agaisnt the target's PD. It will be higher than your will save by far. I want it that way. the MD bonus depends on your psionic rating. For most characters between 2 and 8 (non-psionic) The lower the rating the higher the MD bonus. It goes up with your level.

I have several races with higher base AC. All are what are called "Senior Player Races". Stuff I let you do after you shown you know how to play in my game.

I don't tend to use stat buffs at all, for any race.

Shadow Dweller

07-07-2008, 11:15 PM

Ok, anwsers my questions, and gives me a couple others...but that's because I never played anything before 3e, so I won't ask those as it's more of a hassle than it's worth(in my case).

boulet

07-07-2008, 11:38 PM

The Foxfolk should be played as exuberant and confident. Even in the worse of circumstances, the Foxfolk will be positive, and thinking of ways to turn darkness into light. When everyone else is despairing of life and future, the Foxfolk will declare "Now we have them where we want them!"

Foxfolk hold the precepts of chivalry as the height of proper behavior, honor, courtly love, daring-do, and the like are the ideal to be striven for. The more flamboyant you are at striving, the better. The Foxfolk is best played "over the top", or a little too flamboyant, and with too little restraint. This is much preferred to underplaying them. Thank you very much.

I find it interesting that you chose this tone for the Foxfolk. Where I come from, one would rather associate foxes with deception, ruse and why not cynicism. How did you finally settled for this flavor of human foxes ?

tesral

07-08-2008, 12:06 AM

I find it interesting that you chose this tone for the Foxfolk. Where I come from, one would rather associate foxes with deception, ruse and why not cynicism. How did you finally settled for this flavor of human foxes ?

Because that is how Reginald P. Vanderfeller was played. The character was over the top super optimistic. The nut does not fall far from the tree. As he founded the race and set the tone for their culture, that is what they are.

This is not a race I whipped up whole cloth, or one I took from myth or folklore. Rather it was added as a result of in-game actions. The character, history as given was played for many years. He founded the race, founded the Foxdale, found the goddess. When it came time to update my rulebook, the Foxfolk were included. Likewise the Tanuki, and the Sauroi (http://phoenixinn.iwarp.com/fantasy/fantpdf/Sauroi.pdf) (yet to be posted) are things that developed in game from the actions of characters.

32 years is a long time. A game does not remain static and live.

boulet

07-08-2008, 12:08 AM

OK, makes sense...

nijineko

07-11-2008, 09:10 PM

i was going to ask about tanuki. ^^ awesome write up as usual. =D i like the minor thought-out details like disposition of foot, and conversational distance.

tesral

07-12-2008, 06:49 PM

i was going to ask about tanuki. ^^ awesome write up as usual. =D i like the minor thought-out details like disposition of foot, and conversational distance.